


Smoke

by sevenall



Category: Bleach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 19:02:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6622528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenall/pseuds/sevenall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shunsui grieves for Shiba Kaien as much as anyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smoke

It still rains in the morning. Kyouraku Shunsui sits in his office, a cup of tea untouched in front of him, and listens to the tap-tap of rain against the panelled roof. The loss of a Vice Captain and a Third Seat in the same Division will be difficult to compensate for. More so, because neither of the Fourth Seats are quite ready for Vice Captainship and the Captain himself isn't in the best of health.

He is aware how deeply Jyuushirou cared for the Shibas. The way they went, she with dishonour, he recovering their honour in the end, is doubly distressing. And perhaps, though Shunsui would never say so out loud, Jyuushirou was a bit careless himself, allowing the Hollow in Kaien's body to exploit more opportunities than was wise. Taking the Hollow's word for it that Kaien was lost. Delaying the terminal blow. Bringing an unseated officer with him, Kuchiki Rukia's only qualification being that she loved Kaien as much as Jyuushirou did.

Shunsui grieves for Shiba Kaien as much as anyone. But for the last decades, he's watched with a sinking heart how Jyuushirou would relinquish more and more of the Division work to his Vice Captain. He'd send Kaien as his proxy to meetings, to meet the new recruits, to the musters and the field exercises, while he himself withdrew to the small cabin by the lake. He'd talk about Kaien's Captaincy as if it was a certain thing. A near thing.

Shunsui knows how long the years can stretch, while the days grow ever shorter with every passing century. He comforts himself with the cherry blossoms every spring, the fine sake in his bowl and the tentative smile on his Vice Captain's lips when she thinks he isn't looking. For the other things, he has the duty to his Division, his fellow Captains and the Captain General. He enjoys the trust of old man Yama and the friendship of Jyuushirou. There's always a new path he hasn't walked, a wine he hasn't tasted, a woman he hasn't met yet.

It may be different for Jyuushirou, trapped inside a failing body, with each breath a struggle and the taste of blood and phlegm constantly on his palate. Without a Captain's duties to uphold him and the world growing smaller around him, as he spends increasing amounts of time confined to bed, he has been fading. The last winters have been bad ones and the summers bring him no relief. Shunsui hasn't had the heart to ask him to stay for the sake of friendship. Duty is another matter. Jyuushirou doesn't need Shunsui to tell him where his duty lies.

So while Shunsui is desperately sorry that Shiba Kaien is gone, he is not sorry to see the smoke rising above the Thirteenth Division compound and know that Jyuushirou is in his office this morning.

THE END


End file.
